Valerie G. Barnes Connell Jordan
Daily Herald
Somehow I never expected to be writing this column again after it’s run in 2015, and our evacuation from La Ronge for approximately two weeks.
But, here I am again, but with a bit different flavour.
Wildfires began early this year in Saskatchewan’s north! One fire started up and people from Morin’s Hill Reserve, better known to us as Hall Lake, has fire at their doorstep and people were evacuated.
The earliness of the fire surprised many of us. But, there it was, still very early!
As our vehicle had been damaged in an accident sometime earlier, we were not going off to visit, and that is another part of our story, which will come in later on.
We listened, and were getting more and more glued to Facebook as we heard about Pelican Narrows being evacuated, then the road to Sandy Bay was blocked because of a fire for a while.
We were busy with finding transportation with our car out of commission, then my husband ended up in hospital after he broke his main bone, the femur and had to have surgery.
The car was “temporarily repaired” as parts seemed to scarce. But that got us on the road, in town at least!
I heard the news that fires near Creighton and Flin Flon were of concern and then, my niece was was travelling south in Manitoba as the order to evacuate came. I watched Facebook and worried until she posted that she had arrived in Swan River at about 2:30 a.m. and I was relieved. Her Facebook posts brought back memories of our evacuation experience in 2015, the uncertainties, the way Facebook became my thing, Before that I had not been much of a user, but that changed and there we were, every four minutes, looking up what was happening at home. And more!
With so much going on in our lives, it felt like the fire situation around La Ronge snuck up on me!
Then, Monday, June 2 dawned. Oddly I went to the folks at the auto body shop to see about the car, particularly whether I could drive it out of town if need by?
Things became a real challenge when I got a call from the La Ronge Health Centre to say my husband was being evacuated.
I then saw La Ronge, Air Ronge and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) were also being evacuated.
I threw some things in the car and went to the hospital and they were sending my husband to Canora. Sask.
I was told to go to the Jonas Roberts Memorial Community Centre (JRMCC), more familiarly known as the JR to register!
They were registering people from Sucker River and Hall Lake. So I sat down and was quickly told the highway south was closed due to an accident.
I got a bowl of soup and had two mouthfuls and was told, the highways open again. Get in your car and go, because it could close any time again.
I did.
And then I entered into a surreal experience of driving down the highway, one I have been travelling on frequently for more than 19 years.
I got around 20 kms, when I came upon a line up and was stopped there for some time. People visited on the side of the highway, and others just sat.
The cavalcade was being piloted through fire activity, which I hadn’t realized was so close to La Ronge. And, it was south of La Ronge.
The experience as surreal!
The highway was lined by blacked trees and ditches right up to the high edges. Several times I had trouble seeing the highway, particularly the flashers of the vehicle in front of me, then the highway disappeared into smoke and there were flames on the road side a couple of times on both sides of the highway.
I talked to myself. Something I do from time to time.
“You just have to keep going, there’s no choice here, “I told myself a few times.
Buses and ambulances were coming the other direction, but it was like being alone in the universe, each vehicle seemed totally independent of me.
Then, I arrived by Weyakwin, and all of a sudden everything was clear and sunny. And one begins to wonder. Did I really drive through that? Was there really all those blacked trees and ditches on our highway?
I arrived in Prince Albert and was welcomed at a friends home.
Now, at this time, it’s my fifth day of evacuation and the Facebook comes out every four minutes, or maybe even more frequently!
We keep track of what’s happening at home. We are so thrilled to see someone from home.
I feel an infinity with other evacuees.
But it’s different!
It’s not as organized as 2015 was. There’s no resources for us. Fires re raging and people are being evacuated in many northern communities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
What is most startling. The difference!
Wab Kinew, Manitoba’s Premier, has been on top to things since the beginning.
In Saskatchewan, while we hear regularly from our MLA and MP, we don’t hear from the government really at all.
The difference is staggering! Everyone wants Wab Kinew to be our Premier too. Prime Minister even, I have seen more than once!
People are struggling to find any resources. It took a long time for a State of Emergency to be declared in Saskatchewan. And still we struggle without resources to help us as we are scattered around the province.
People are angry, disappointed and a number of other words and feelings have been voiced, and questions asked, which should be unnecessary.
This is where we are at as I write this column. There will be more to come I’m sure.
